Guild Wars 2

Hey there. Im a long time gw2 player looking to make a thief. I made one before and played it to some effectiveness but wasn’t able to get into the playstyle. This time I thought id come here to see if anyone had any advice.

Im looking for primarily a hit and run playstyle. I dont mind going full glass or needing fast reflexes. Im looking specifically for something that can effectively guarantee a kill on a specific target as long as I take the time to keep hitting him over and over.

So something with moderate to high damage and very high mobility capable of breaking through a point defense build given enough time would be ideal.

Sword Dagger sounds more like what you’re looking for. But Dagger Pistol could be what you prefer.

Both play hit and run, but S/D is easier to play that style with.

Since mobility is important to you, I’d say try 2/0/0/6/6 S/D, but also give D/P a try with Pack runes.

If you try D/P without pack runes you probably won’t feel as mobile as you’d like unless you ran acrobatics with D/P.

However, if you are going to be acrobatics you may as while play S/D for the point presence the evades from flanking strike offer.

Hopefully that helps a bit, but you can’t really know what you’ll prefer until you try playing the builds a bit.

Thank you for the reply Ill try it out.

“Im looking specifically for something that can effectively guarantee a kill on a specific target as long as I take the time to keep hitting him over and over” – any thief builds can do that, but the thing is, you won’t be able to kill any decent bunker in a reasonable amount of time with any build.

D/P 60206 can usually oneshot enemy zerker classes and poses a huge treat on any class if you get the jump on them while they’re busy fighting your allies.
S/D is more of a “get in, burst, get out, peel->start over”.
D/P is something like “get in→get out→shortbow”.

hihey.1075:

“Im looking specifically for something that can effectively guarantee a kill on a specific target as long as I take the time to keep hitting him over and over” – any thief builds can do that, but the thing is, you won’t be able to kill any decent bunker in a reasonable amount of time with any build.

D/P 60206 can usually oneshot enemy zerker classes and poses a huge treat on any class if you get the jump on them while they’re busy fighting your allies.
S/D is more of a “get in, burst, get out, peel->start over”.
D/P is something like “get in->get out->shortbow”.

You said one shot, I guess it’s a group of skills combo, what’s your rotation from one skill to next in this “one shot”?

Keyboardwarrior.8021:

hihey.1075:

“Im looking specifically for something that can effectively guarantee a kill on a specific target as long as I take the time to keep hitting him over and over” – any thief builds can do that, but the thing is, you won’t be able to kill any decent bunker in a reasonable amount of time with any build.

D/P 60206 can usually oneshot enemy zerker classes and poses a huge treat on any class if you get the jump on them while they’re busy fighting your allies.
S/D is more of a “get in, burst, get out, peel->start over”.
D/P is something like “get in->get out->shortbow”.

You said one shot, I guess it’s a group of skills combo, what’s your rotation from one skill to next in this “one shot”?

(Assuming you are in Stealth, which you can easily gain access to with Black Powder→Heartseeker)
Just cast Basilisk Venom, choose a target, get on their back and press Backstab+Steal (the latter 0.3s after the Backstab animation started).
If the backstab crits, that’s an easy 5-6k on a zerker. Add Steal (2k). Then proceed to auto for the duration of the Venom. With luck, you’ll be able to land 1-2 autos and proc Air+Fire/Blood sigil (2-2.5k dmg from sigils, 2-3k dmg from autos).
Usually, any zerker thief/mesmer/ele/ranger will either die or be at very low HP if they get a crit backstab from the back while unaware of your presence, so that’s a very quick kill.

However, you’ll find out by yourself that getting the chance to oneshot an enemy is VERY rare. With DP, unless you get the jump on your enemy (again, it’s rare), you’re better off just landing that final burst that drops your target from 50% to 0% and then proceed to stomp/shortbow/go away. Mechanically it’s quite easy though, but the Thief profession is all about “improvisation”, positioning and timing.
Anyone can go around and oneshot (bad) people in hotjoin/unranked. Very few actually live to tell the tale afterwards

Shadelang.3012:

Hey there. Im a long time gw2 player looking to make a thief. I made one before and played it to some effectiveness but wasn’t able to get into the playstyle. This time I thought id come here to see if anyone had any advice.

Im looking for primarily a hit and run playstyle. I dont mind going full glass or needing fast reflexes. Im looking specifically for something that can effectively guarantee a kill on a specific target as long as I take the time to keep hitting him over and over.

So something with moderate to high damage and very high mobility capable of breaking through a point defense build given enough time would be ideal.

First question: sPvP or WvW?
Second question: How difficult and risky of a build are you willing to run to secure a kill before your opponent has any chance to retaliate? As I currently have a new-and-crazier backstab build than my previous 5/6/0/0/3 which will yield EVEN MORE DAMAGE! (utility skill fees and sigils apply)